#2!

My dearest friends and family,

This past week was pretty awesome, but felt like a lifetime because of all the things that happened. 

My week started off right after I sent the email last week. Monday afternoon we had a baptismal interview with one Karin Tezen, maybe some of you remember that name. The interview was with the President in the mission office, so we went to pick up Karin from where she was at her meeting in one of the churches in Chiclayo. But as we got to the chapel, we realized that there was nobody home, and all the doors and fence was locked. Oh great, I thought, the chapel where she said she had a meeting for work was empty, and it was 20 minutes before her interview with the Mission President. 

But luckily, in this advanced day and age that we live in everyone has their cell phone with them, so we called her to ask her where she was. Turned off... classic.

 So there we were, outside a locked church looking for an investigator with a very, very important interview in 15 minutes, but said person had no idea where the mission office was, and we had no idea where said person was, and to top it all off her cell phone was off. 

So we made a very advanced and analytical decision, and plopped down and began to wait. Time rolled by, 15 minutes until the interview, 10, now 5! Ok--now I was starting to lose it. During this time we had been calling the turned off cell like crazy, but we were only able to talk to her the number of times that looks like a goose egg. 

So we began to walk a bit up and down the street to try and see more, maybe we were actually in Utah where there is a Mormon church every block and she was in the one next door? Blast, no cigar. 

As we hit the last 5 minutes before we had to be in the office for the interview, I really started to panic. This investigator needed to be interviewed by the President, and she was already in Chiclayo for work. 

Earlier that morning we had studied in Preach My Gospel about a few Christ-like attributes, hope being one of them. So safe to say you could have named me "Hope" in those 5 minutes and it still wouldn't have sufficed. Then boom, like Cinderella, or better yet, like in Shrek 2, the clock struck 6 pm and Mrs. Karin Tezen was no where to be seen or heard of. 

As hopeful as Tiana was about her restaurant ( see Princess and the Frog) we waited for another 10 minutes. Squat. Well flip Elder... 

At this point I was speaking English to my Peruvian companion because of how mad I was. So we called the President and told him that we would have to reschedule another time, probably the next week. As we began to walk the sorry walk back to the office, the longest 10 seconds passed. Then, I heard something faint behind me that sounded something like, "Elders!"

 Because I was still wearing my hope tie, I turned expecting to see some kids who had figured out how to get our attention by saying our name. But then BAM! There Karin was getting out of a taxi, a little bit behind us, between us and the chapel. 

Holy crud, I thought. "Call the president" I commanded of my companion! 

So there we went, like Luke Skywalker after he destroyed the Death Star before it exploded, to the office for the interview. The interview went well, the President told us we could baptize, and so we began to plan. Wednesday we went to the house of Karin to plan the service, and she told us she wanted to be baptized tomorrow (Thursday) because Friday she was going to visit family in Lima. Oh Shoot! 

So for the next 22 hours, we went a bit crazy preparing everything for the service. Then on Thursday, at around 5:30, Karin Tezen was baptized! Haha oh yes we finally got a baptism! Now I know you are all thinking, I told you so Tanner, or, you should of been a little more patient. But before you flood me with those emails, know that I learned my lesson, so you can flood me with emails about other things. 

So there we go, I finally had my 2nd baptism after a bit of work and disappointment. But I learned a ton of patience, and how the Lord prepares people to be ready to be baptized in his own time, but when they are prepared, they are much better off. After about 2.5 months of teaching her with 2 different companions, 2 baptismal dates, 2 interviews with 2 different people, Karin had her one baptism! 

So yeah, that was pretty much my week. I hope you are all doing great, and will have a great week! Enjoy the snow, stay safe, have fun, and share the Gospel!

Love Elder Lewis